92 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Oct. 5. 1831. 



Silk and Silk \Torms. 



From the Lowell Juurnal- 



SILK MANUFACTURE. 



NO. VI. 



Mr D'llomergue in conclusion of his essays ob- 

 serves, ' my cliief view in tlie loregoiiig essays 

 lias been to prove, that (be prepaniliou of raw silk, 

 called reeling, is an art wiihout a perfect knowl- 

 edge of wbicli this Country can never expect to 

 be''able to manufacture silk stuffs, and is tiie great 

 aud most important object to be attended to at 

 present ; and tbat this art retjuircs considerable 

 skill and dexterity, and can only be acquired by 

 experience and practice under proper instructors.' 

 Floss SUk, which consists of tow and the coarse 

 fibres of the silk extracted from the cocoons, and 

 of the waste and refuse silk collected during the 

 process of reeling put together in a mass, then 

 carded and spun on the common wheel, of which 

 are made ribbons, silk tapes, stockings, gloves, mit- 

 tens, nightcaps, vestings, and all kinds of hosiery, 

 may be either sold as raw silk for exportation, or 

 employed in the manufacture of coarse articles of 

 the above description. But if it be intended to 

 give to those articles any degree of fineness, the 

 floss must undergo the same process as other raw 

 silk. It must be wound, cleaned, doubled and 

 twisted in the travelle, a machine made on the 

 principle of the throwsting mill, but differently 

 constructed, and of a much siiialler size. This 

 branch of domestic industry might very well take 

 the place of the sewing silk of the Connecticut 

 ladies, and find them an agreeable and profitable 

 employment ; and it would prepare the American 

 weavers for making the finer articles, when the 

 manufacture of thrown silk shall have been intro- 

 duced into this country. 



The American nation will, by gradual and sure 

 Bteps, reach the desirable point to which her whole 

 ambition should be directed ; tbat in which her 

 own native silk, that precious gift which a kind 

 Providence has bestowed upon her with such ex- 

 tellence, and such extreme profusion, will fill the 

 lawd and «rake America what France now is, — a 

 country that no reverse can put down, and tbat 

 conquest and the devastations of hostile armies 

 cannot impoverish. 



We hear of machines for winding silk from co- 

 coons without handling them, which is absolutely 

 impossible. We have beard of others by means 

 of which silk can be reeU'd and twisted at the 

 same time, which implies that reeling, winding, 

 cleaning, doubling, and twisting, or in other wonls, 

 that raw silk and thrown silk may be made by one 

 and the same operation. I have no doidit how- 

 ever that the numerous machines employeii in the 

 different branches of the silk manufacture are des- 

 tined to receive great and manifold improvement 

 in the country whose future Wliitneys will distin- 

 guish themselves as they have done in the cotton 

 business ; but every body will understand, that he 

 who will improve upon a machitie must first learn 

 how to use it. 



It is idle to think of importing jr)urneymen, or 

 women, who are acquainted with the business, for 

 such are not toAie found. If iliey would be in- 

 duced to emigrate, we could not derive much ad- 

 vantage from them ; each one knowing only that 

 part of the business which the division of labor has 

 allotted to him. Mr J. W. iMorse writes from IMar- 

 seilles, March 21, 1829, it is diflicult, indeed, to 



find a person who possesses a knowledge of the 

 reeling and the different processes before being made 

 into sewing silk ; for it is done by four or more 

 persons who have each his particular Jiart, and con- 

 tinues through life doing nothing else ; which keeps 

 him ignorant of every other part. The reeling is 

 done by women, and there are few men who are 

 acquainted with that branch of business. There 

 are very few in France or Italy who are acquain- 

 ted with all parts of the i)rocess, and those few 

 receive such liberal encouragement at home, that 

 they will not go abroad. 



If any gentleman from this place shall pass 

 through Pbiladeli)hia during the present year, it is 

 desirable that they should call on Mr D'Homergue, 

 and have a free conversation with him on the sub- 

 ject. _^ V. 



From Prince's romological Manual. 



PEACHES. 

 Large earlt Rakeripe. Pr. cat. 



New-York Rareripe. Coxe. 



Royal Kensington. For. Loml. Hort. Cat. 



Large Early. Lond. Hort. Cat. 



York Rareripe. Largo early York. 



This choice and beautiful variety was raised by 

 the grandfather of the author, from the stone of 

 the Red Rareripe, and was transmitted by the 

 present Williiuii Prince, a few years after our rev- 

 olution, to Mr William Forsjtb, author of the 

 Treatise on Fruit trees, who had then the direction 

 of the Royal Gardens at Kensington, near Lon- 

 don, and it probably receiveil the title of Royal 

 Kensington from him. The flowers are of a small 

 size ; the fruit of a round form, and the skin of 

 a rather darker red on the sunny side than its pa- 

 rent ; the flesh is also rather more firm, equally 

 rich, juicy, and of a luscious flavor ; it parts freely 

 from the stone. The tree is very productive, and 

 is extensively planted for supplying the markets 

 with fruit, its size, fine appearance, and other quali- 

 ties, causing it to be much sought after. It ripens 

 about the middle of August. 



Monstrous Lemon. Pr. cat. 

 Largest Lemon. Lonil. Hort. Cat. 

 This tree is of vigorous growth, and produces 

 small flowers ; the fruit is of the largest size, and 

 in the gardens of two persons at New York has 

 weighed seventeen ounces ; the flowers are but 

 thiidy scattered over the branches, and the tree 

 does not bear well, unless the situation is a shel- 

 tered one ; the fruit is late in ripening, and in this 

 latitude seems to require the warmth of n city or 

 a favorable sheltered situation, to perfect its matu- 

 rity. This var-iety was first discovered in the gar- 

 den of MrTiebout, of York Island, and was sent, 

 some years since, to the London Horticultural So- 

 ciety, with several hundred other varieties of fruits, 

 at their express dosir*. 



Heath. Pr. cat. Coxe. Lond. hort. cat. 



Heath clingstone. Lond. Hort. Cat. 

 The flower of this tree is of small size, a.rd the 

 leaf has smooth edges; the fruit is very large, of 

 oval or oblong for'in, terminated by a nramelon at 

 tho exti-emity ; the skin is white with a partial 

 tinge of cream color when the fruit acqtrires its 

 nratui-ity, and those most exposed to the sun have 

 a slight touch of pale red next the sun ; the flesh 

 is peculiarly rich and highly flavored, very tender, 

 melting, and abounding in a greater profusion of 

 juice than almost any other peach, it strongly ad- 

 lieres to the stone which often divides, so as to i 



expose the kernel. The tree is hardy and of 

 vigorous griywth, and so abundant in bearing, that 

 it is often necessai-y to thin out the fruit orr young 

 tress, to pr'eveut their beiirg exhausted thereby, and 

 their growth consequently impeded or stiirted. It 

 requires the ground around it to be kept cultivated 

 or mellow, which will cause the fruit to be large 

 and fair, and it is found to be in general longer- 

 lived than other trees of its class. The fruit 

 begins to ripen in Seplembei-, but by being care- 

 fully placed on shelves iir the fruit-room, it may 

 be i)reserved till November-, and the juice acquires 

 an additional richness after being thus preserved 

 some days, but if kept too long in that slate, it shriv- 

 els and loses a jrortion of its juice and fine flavor. 

 It is in great repute for preserves in sugar and 

 brandy, and there can scarcely exist another 

 peach superior to it for these purposes. 



The following history of its orrgin from the pen 

 of William Prince, the prcient senior jiropr-ietor 

 of the Flushing Nui-series, difliiis from that of Mr 

 Coxe — it is possible that two seedliirg var-ietics 

 originating in different places rtray have prodrrced 

 fruit so similar as to blend them with each other. 



' The original tree was discovered growing 

 wild on the farm of the late Judge Willet, of 

 Flushing, and it was called Heath clingstone, from 

 the circumstairce of its being found in a barren 

 field or heath, as the old English settler-s some- 

 times tei'med such lands as were left trncultivated. 

 My father cultivated it many years befor-e the r'e- 

 volution. It has the peculiar property of per'petn- 

 ating itself from seed with but a partial variation 

 iir most cases from the original ; the fruit of some 

 of the seedling trees being rather mor-e fir'rn, and 

 that of others varying a little in the i)ei'iod of ma- 

 turity, but the whole havitig a general affinity.' 



KENRrcK's Heath. Pr. Cat. 

 This freestone variety I i-cceived from the 

 Messrs Kenr-ick, who obtained it fronr the late 

 Gen. Heath, of RoxJmr'y, near Boston. The flow- 

 ers are of mediimr tize ; the fiuit is oblong, with a ' 

 deep cavity at the insertion, and a slight mamelon 

 at the extremity ; it has also a groove, or suture, 

 extending alnrost frotrr the base to the summit, 

 which is sometimes very deep, but in general only 

 slightly depressed ; the skin is a greeirish yellow, 

 touched with reddish purple on the sunny side, and 

 sonretimes of a purplish hue around the insertion ; 

 the flesh is greenish, extr'emely juicy^ of a pleas- 

 ant subacid, but not high flavor, ami is occasion- 

 ally somewhat stringy ; the stone separates from 

 the flesh and is apt to split. This fruit is one of 

 the largest cultivated in New England, frequently 

 weighing half a pound, and sometimes more, and 

 is strongly marked by peculiai-ity of appear'ance ; 

 it rii)ens at Boston about tire 20tli of September, 

 and in this vicinity a week earlier ; the tree is 

 of the most vigorous growth, and produces good 

 crops. 



MUSHROOM. 



The uses of this vegetable do not ap|iear to 

 be well understood in this secliorr of country. It 

 belongs to the 22<1 Class (Cryptogamia) and 6th 

 Or'der, (Fungi) Genera, Agaricus ; species, Cam- 

 pestris L. Gillis pink color, stem wlrite, with 

 volva. 



Mushrooms are to be found in ])astures during 

 the month of September, and when well prepaied 

 are relished by most people. When served up as 



